MODERN TENEMENT HOUSES 



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accomplish their main purpose without excluding air or liglit. Smooth 

 glazed white tile on the walls of the well and large panes of thick 

 glass in the hoods are designed to catch and reflect every available ray 

 of light. There is nothing dark or dingy about such a stairway and its 

 advantages over the foul-smelling, unsanitary halls of the average tene- 

 ment are too apparent to require enumeration. 



The top of each stair well is covered with a pergola like that shown 

 in Fig. 4. The pergolas have iron framework holding glass panels over 

 the top and glass windows part way up the sides, with numerous sections 

 which can be opened when desired. Immediately under its roof the 

 pergola is always open for ventilating purposes, but so tbat neither snow 

 nor rain can find its way into the hall. 



Another feature of the open stairs hardly less interesting tban those 

 already mentioned is their intensely practical usefulness in case of fire. 

 It is a remarkable testimonial to their value in this respect that the city 

 officials who pass on such matters have decided that no fire-escapes are 

 required on tenements of the open stair type. The most practical fire 

 proof quality of the open stairs is that they are the one means of leav- 



FiG. 3. The Open Stairs, with outlook beyond, across the central 



the stair well of the opposite corner. 



court and into 



